Captain America now a black man, Marvel says

MARVEL has announced a new Captain America — and for the first time in the comic franchise’s history, the superhero has been cast as a black man. Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada announced on The Colbert Report that Sam Wilson, also known as The Falcon, will take over Captain America’s shield in Captain America #21, the New York Post reports.

The star-spangled superhero had suffered a brutal defeat at the hands of the newly minted villain Iron Nail and lost his special powers that gave him super-strength and youth last month. “Doesn’t that make him Captain African American?” Colbert joked on the show before suggesting he take on the role of The Falcon in the comics.

The change for the Cap will only affect the comic book universe at this time. Chris Evans, who has played the Captain on the big screen in The Avengers, will continue to portray the hero. Captain America writer Rick Remender told Marvel.com: “I think that different characters across the Marvel Universe are going to respond to Sam’s appointment in different ways. But he’s not a novice — in his long history as the Falcon, he’s earned a reputation for integrity and honesty and backbone that most of the super hero community have a respect for.”

The mantle of Captain America has been passed on to other characters in the past, including John Walker (later known as US Agent) and sidekick Bucky Barnes (recently seen in Captain America 2 as “The Winter Soldier”).

The move comes just one day after the same comic franchise announced that the character Thor, the God of Thunder, would now be portrayed as a woman in that comic book series.

Al-Rasub is a news aggregate website that accumulates major news sources around the globe. All content is hand-picked in order to pull the best stories produced by a wide variety of other news organizations.